Now, city hospital to perform heart transplants

AURANGABAD: A city-based private hospital has joined the list of premier medical institutions allowed to perform heart transplants. With the approval, the hospital has become the first and only recognised medical centre in Marathwada to conduct the heart transplants.
United CIIGMA Hospital, which was the first and only medical centre to get the National Accreditation Board of Hospitals and Health Care Providers (NABH) accreditation in Marathwada and Khandesh, will also start performing the challenging heart transplants.The hospital kick-started the first cadaver harvest procedure this year in Aurangabad in January.
On Tuesday, the hospital became the only recognised centre to get permission to perform heart transplants from the state Director Health Services (DHS). Hospital director Unmesh Takalkar said, "With the hospital getting permission from state DHS to conduct heart transplants, it would help reduce transportation cost and time spent on performing the life-saving operations in Marathwada."
"The hospital has decided to go an extra mile. We are keen to roll out the programme as soon as possible and would do our first heart transplant surgery for free," he said, adding that the reason for the decision was to give a push the transplant programme in the region.
He added, "Our basic aim is to support the directions of state government to reduce transportation cost to push organ transplant. Our hospital would focus in reducing green corridor and transplant cost so that patients coming from economically weak background can also avail the benefits of the health services."
About a couple of months back, an independent team from the state government had visited the hospital to conduct inspection. The hospital has a team of three cardiologists and two cardiac surgeons and well-equipped facility to conduct heart transplants. The hospital also has adequate infrastructure to render post-transplant care.
Cardiac surgeon Anand Deodhar, who is also government recognised transplant surgeon for heart retrieval and transplant, said that if a person suffering from coronary ailments doesn't get relief after angioplasty and bypass, a heart transplant is considered as the only option. In a transplant case, the heart must be harvested from a brain dead person after the consent from the family.
"At present, nearly 25 to 30 patients are on the waiting list in Aurangabad, who require a heart transplant. We perform around two bypass and eight to ten angioplasties every day. However, scores of patients live on medication for various reasons. Some don't want to travel to other places, while some are scared of surgery," he said.
It was Pune that set the wheels of the state's heart transplant programme in motion last year when the family of a 42-year-old woman from the city donated her heart to a young Mumbai-based graphic designer. This successful heart transplant in Maharashtra, a first, paved the way for over 25 heart transplants in a little more than a year.